Cartridge feed-belt for machine guns



June 6, 1944. J. A. HENDLEY CARTRIDGE FEED-BELT FOR MACHINE GUNS FiledNov. 20, 1942 Patented June 6, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT lOFFICE cutCARTRIDGE FEED-BELT FOR MACHINE Applicaton November 20, 1942, Serial No.466,249

1 Claim.

This invention relates to improvements in woven cartridge feed-belts formachine guns.

One object of this invention is to provide an improved woven cartridgefeed-belt for machine guns in which two sets of warp strands are wovenwith weft picks to mainly form a twoply cartridge feed-belt with aconsiderable number of the warp strands crossing over back and forthfrom one ply to the other to form cartridge-receiving pockets and toform one or more loops located between each two cartridge-receivingpockets.

With the above and other objects in view, as will appear to thoseskilled in the art from the present disclosure, this invention includesal1 features in the said disclosure which are novel over the prior art.

In the accompanying drawing in which one way of carrying out theinvention is shown for illustrative purposes:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of a portion of a cartridge feed-belt madein accordance with the present invention, and illustrating cartridges insome of the pockets thereof;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view on line 3-3 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged schematic view on line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

In the description and claim, the various parts and steps are identifiedby speciiic names for convenience, but they are intended to be asgeneric in their application as the prior art will permit.

In carrying out the invention in the particular Way illustrated in thedrawing, a cartridge feedbelt I is formed of two plies of fabric II andI2, mainly formed by weaving together two sets of warp strands I3 andIII with weft or filling strands I5 and I6. At least a considerablenumber of the warp strands located along the major width of the belt arecrossed over back and forth from one ply to the other atlongitudinallyspaced-apart locations I1 to form cartridge-receivingpockets I8 and to form loops or openings I9 between the plies andbetween each two successive cartridge-receiving pockets, the two pliesbeing unconnected with each other between each two adjacent crossover`locations which form a loop I9. Where sets of warp strands are referredto, it does not mean that the same strands always form a set, since, dueto the crossing over from ply to ply, the identity of the warp strandsforming a set in each ply will be different at different locations alongthe belt. While all of the warp strands located within the crossoverregion could be crossed over from ply to ply, it will be appreciatedthat this is not necessary since the Crossovers can be formed bycrossing half of the warp strands or any other desired considerablenumber of the warp strands located along the crossover region.

For maximum effectiveness and strength of the belt, it is desirable tohave an even number of loops I9 between each two cartridge-receivingpockets I8 in order that the warps which are on one side of the belt aspart of a given cartridgereceiving pocket, will be on the other side ofthe belt as part of the next adjacent cartridge-receiving pocket.

The loops I9 between each two cartridge-receiving pockets I8 are readilydistortable, collapsible, etc., to thus provide a maximum degree ofaccommodation in aiding in the freedom of the cartridges to assume aproper position when they are inserted in the cartridge-receivingpockets to permit of the belt readily maintaining alongitudinally-straight condition, notwithstanding that each cartridgehas different portions of considerably different diameters and that themain portion of the cartridge is of a tapered or conical form.

The invention may be carried out in other specific ways than thoseherein set forth without departing from the spirit and essentialcharacteristics of the invention, and the present embodiments are,therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and notrestrictive, and all changes coming within the meaning and equivalencyrange of the appended claims are intended to be embraced therein.

I claim:

A strip-like woven cartridge feed-belt for machine guns comprising: twosets of warp strands woven with weft strands to mainly form a two.- plycartridge feed-belt having a plurality of cartridge-receiving pocketsbetween the plies and extending transversely of the belt, and having apair of openings between each two successive cartridge-receiving pocketsand between the plies and extending generally parallel to each other andto the cartridge-receiving pockets; a considerable number of the warpstrands located along the major width of the belt in each of the twoply-portions which form opposite faceportions of a pocket, crossing overto the other ply and then back again to form one of a said pair ofopenings, and then crossing over again to the other ply to form theother one of a said pair of openings, and then extending along in theother ply in a face-portion of the next cartridge-receiving pocket.

JAMES A. HENDLEY.

